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On April 14, 2016, Portland, Oregon’s KPTV Channel 12 broke a story that 9 year-old students at a Rainier, Oregon elementary school were given access to “It’s Perfectly Normal”, a book using graphics to instruct students in sexual intercourse and masturbation. The Rainier School District (RSD) claims that...the eleven-year-old's “accidentally left the books out” where a 4th grade class found and read them.
Parents and guardians want to know what district policy allows this book to be used and sanctions school personnel to direct students to a book which depicts individuals masturbating or engaging in sexual intercourse?
This book is contentious (around the nation) because of issues of nudity, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group and allegations that it’s child pornography, yet the school district approved the purchase and use of “It’s Perfectly Normal” books.The District Superintendent stated that “It’s Perfectly Normal” is on the Oregon Department of Education’s (ODE) state approved list. It should be noted that the controversial Adolescent Sexuality Conference was also approved by the ODE and touted as “in compliance with state standards”. This conference indisputably exposed minors as young as eleven to pornography and other unsafe content.
Is showing cartoon depictions of children masturbating and adults engaging in sexual intercourse any more "suitable" for 9 or 11 elementary students...than if they were shown actual photos of these behaviors? School district's must be held to account and justify such a decision. Parents and guardians can contact their board members and let them know that a book such as "It's Perfectly Normal" is not perfectly okay as part of their children’s school education.